“Who’s getting nosy?” Lena repeated, “Did I do something?”
The only response from Dragon Lady was the lifting of an eyebrow. Lena squirmed, desperately trying to read Dragon Lady’s expression or understand what she was implying. Whatever was going on— whatever had happened—she felt that anything she said or did in this moment might implicate her in something she knew nothing about.
“No, dear,” Dragon Lady responded after some time. “You haven’t done anything. Shall we head out?”
Dragon Lady drove the car for nearly two hours. Lena wasn’t complaining, though. This was one of perhaps three times she had even been in a car in her life, excluding the touring van to West Germany. Oh sure, she had ridden on busses before, but those were slow lumbering things and only drove certain directions. In this car, she felt so free! She imagined what it would be like to simply drive away in a car to start a whole new life anywhere she pleased. As it was, Dragon Lady drove past places Lena had walked a million times before, yet they seemed almost foreign to her now that she was whizzing by at a break-neck speed. After the first thirty minutes of driving, Lena knew she had to have her own car someday.
Dragon Lady had taken a winding route through the city before emerging out into the country. Driving slowly down a lonely country road, she pulled over to the side, shut the engine off and waited. Perhaps five minutes passed, before she turned around and drove back into the city. Another fifteen minutes later, she pulled up to a hostel and parked on the street beside it.
“Here we are!” Dragon Lady said proudly. “Are you excited?”
Lena nodded in response.
The two entered the main door into a lobby. It was a shabby place, and the attendant at the front seemed quite nonplussed by their presence there. He didn’t even look up to notice them, and Lena distinctly heard the sound of a television crackling somewhere from behind the desk. She recognized the sounds of one of the GDR’s terrible soaps. “Is there a room here, perhaps? Am I meeting him in one of the rooms?”
The excitement continued to build as they walked down a hall, passing door after door. She was so excited to talk to her Grandfather and talk about the car, and the show, and what East Berlin was like, she could practically contain herself. Yet as they approached the further end of the hall, Lena became confused. “Maybe he’s one of the last doors?”, she thought to herself. Yet at the pace they were walking, Dragon Lady didn’t seem to be walking anywhere but towards the end. She wasn’t even counting the numbers on the doors. As they finally reached the end, and walked out of the exit to the outside world, Lena had finally recognized the anti-surveillance tactics, “It’s a dummy location.” she realized, “She’s worried that we’re being followed.”
The two walked down a dark alleyway for a minute or two, before strolling past a parked car. Lena looked at the car and noticed that someone was sitting in the driver’s seat. Suddenly, everything went dark as she felt a bag being firmly placed over her head, “What the… what is going on?!” she screamed inside herself, as she began to struggle.
“Stop squirming.” Dragon Lady instructed. “It’s a necessary countermeasure. We know you are being followed, and we know by whom. Until we can figure out why, and determine if you’ve known about it, you don’t get to see where we are taking you. So, sit back and enjoy the ride.”
The car drove for nearly thirty minutes by Lena’s measure. She wasn’t uncomfortable, per se, but her bag was hot and sticky from her own breathing. At first, she had hyperventilated with the fear of certain immediate death. But reason took hold and she knew it wouldn’t bode well for her to have a full-fledged anxiety attack. If they had really intended on killing her, they probably would have done so. But they could still hurt her—if that was the case, only a calm head would get her out of it. So, she set about the business of stilling her breath and calming the pounding heart in her chest. Dragon Lady seemed to sense this.
“Someone’s in deep trouble,” she teased, but Lena didn’t respond. “Have you ever been thrown into a rock quarry before? I don’t imagine you have. But just know that it’s a long way down. Lots of corners too. Lots of sharp, pointy rocks to break your bones and rip chunks out of you on the way down.”
Lena shuddered. She knew that Dragon Lady was just trying to get her goat, but it was working.
“Believe it or not, some people survive the fall,” she continued. “Those are my favorite. They just crawl around aimlessly, screaming for help.” Lena shuddered visibly as she continued, “One actually made it eight hours—god, he was bleeding from so many places! It actually took both of his legs right out of the sockets… they were just hanging on by the skin. He pissed himself three times! Three entire times!”
Lena shuddered again.
“I know it’s all about the nuances and finer details.” Dragon Lady continued, “The way the dirt and rock bits packed into his wounds. That must have felt terrible… although in hindsight, that’s probably why he survived so long. My god, the man screamed! It wasn’t nearly as bad as when the maggots got to him though. You wouldn’t think eight hours is enough for them to breed, but it was! Oh, he really didn’t like the maggots.”
“Would you shut up, woman?!” a loud male voice cut in from the driver’s seat.
“Oh, come now. I’m just having a little…”
“Stop being a bitch and shut the fuck up!” the voice said again, and Lena recognized it as Wart-face.
“Fine,” Dragon Lady replied, sullenly.
“Thank you.” Lena silently thanked him. “Thank you for that.”
Lena was led out of the car. She gasped in the fresh night air as the bag finally came off of her head. As she looked around, she noticed that she was outside of a quaint little summer cottage, like many in the GDR. It wasn’t particularly interesting, all things considered. But as she looked around, she noticed that it was surrounded by woodland. Under other circumstances, she could have gotten used to a place like this. Despite her generally terror-filled mood, as she followed Wart-face and Dragon Lady in through the front door, she brightened immediately.
“Jackieisapunk, Judyisarunt… bumpindowntaBerlin, joinaice-capade-a…”
The sardonic and barely discernable voice of Joey Ramone filled the cottage’s living room as Lena looked about. Books and loose pieces of paper were everywhere, along with the odd-guitar or two. The windows were blacked out with thick curtains, but on the walls hung pictures of David Bowie and a few other musicians that Lena knew, along with large, full-colored maps. The faint scent of freshly-murdered fish and cigar smoke filled the air, and Lena felt right at home.
“My beloved granddaughter!” a familiar voice called from behind her, before she was immediately swept up into a big bear hug.
“Grandfather!” Lena gushed genuinely as she hugged him back. He looked every inch the erudite old codger he was, clean as a whistle and filled with wisdom. Yet the chef’s apron he wore was covered in stains of this sauce or that, and perhaps a small spatter of fish guts. She hadn’t known until now how very much she missed this dear old soul.
“So, tell me everything!” he said hurriedly, as he motioned her over to a set of large leather chairs, “You must tell me how your show went! Did you happen to pick up any albums while you were over there? Have you heard any new music?”